Development cost proposal needed.

[Kirk Reiser]

Charles Crawford <CCrawford at ACB.org> writes:

> Thanks Randy but I hear money is not as much the issue as it getting
> the right enfgineers.

This is not quite true, if we have more money then we could hire and
develop coders that would understand our needs and wants.

However your original idea Charlie is great in that we do need an
organization that could take donations from folks or corporations and
funnel it into gpl'd software development specifically for the blind
linux community.  My experience has always been though that there are
way more projects which need to be done than there is available cash.
That sets up the situation where projects are competing against other
projects in the same field, so which ones get the relatively slim
funds.  I gave up on putting together proposals many years ago because
I realized I had to spend all my time writing proposals (good ones) to
compete against other handicapped organizations for the same pot of
money.  If I got the grant then I had to spend a lot of administrative
time or money keeping the funding agencies happy and up-to-date.  I
was getting very little actual work done so I gave up on the idea
eventually because I want to produce packages not paper work.

We have spent quite a bit of time discussing your idea on the
reflector and as I write this Geoff and Frank are arguing about the
best way to do this sort of thing.

So you need an organization to drum up funds, you need a way to either
treat each project well or special projects you are determined to
support.  I have many times over the years talked about setting up a
funding group to lobbie for funds.  The basic problem there is I am
severely overed worked just trying to keep our current projects moving
in a forward direction.  Sometimes, many times, it seems like I am
making no headway at all.  I just do not have the time to develop a
good organization which would assure collectted funds got to
worthwhile projects that make significant on going progress.

If you can do it, great.  I don't have the time and wish I did.  I can
manage projects and people well but don't have time to do more.

  Kirk

-- 

Kirk Reiser				The Computer Braille Facility
e-mail: kirk at braille.uwo.ca		University of Western Ontario
phone: (519) 661-3061